The Case of Green Gables

In 1985, the Canadian network CBC aired a two part mini series about a feisty red-headed orphan with an over active imagination. Her name was Anne (spelled with an E) and she lived in the fictional town of Avonlea, in a house with green gables.

The series (or movie as it is also referred to) was based on the novel series Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Although there have been many adaptations of the classic story (Anne with an E for example), this version from 1985  is considered by many to be the best.

Hangout with us as we discuss how the series came to be, our favorite moments, and why the world fell in love with Anne Shirley.

 

• The mini series first premiered on December 1st, 1985 on CBC
  • CBC is a Canadian English-language network owned by the Canadian Broadcast Corporation
• The story is based on the children’s book Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
  • The book was first published in 1908, and the series is set around the same time
  • The story is set in Avonlea, a small town on Prince Edward Island in Canada; Although Avonlea is fictional, it is based on the real town Cavendish
  • Montgomery based the story on her own life as an orphan child that was brought up by her strict grandparents
    • The story begins when Anne, a talkative orphan girl with a wild imagination, gets mistakenly adopted by an elderly brother and sister on Prince Edward Island
      • This actually happened to Montgomery’s cousins, who sent for a boy and ended up with a girl
      • Montgomery insisted that the only similarities were that the orphan had red hair and that her cousins kept the child
    • As a child, she visited relatives who lived in a house with green gables, a house that still stands today and that people can visit
      • Hundreds of thousands of people have visited the house which is a historical Canadian landmark
      • A Washington Post article quoted Kyle McKinnon, a park operations manager there, in saying, “People are continually entranced by the story of a young girl who screwed up absolutely everything, but it all worked out.”
• The Mini Series
  • The series starred Megan Follows as Anne, who beat out 3000 girls for the lead role; Colleen Dewhurst as Marilla, and Richard Farnsworth as Matthew
    • Megan Follows is still acting today, most recently in a show called October Faction that is in pre-production
      • She was 16 years old when she was cast as 12-year-old Anne

      • “My life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes.”
    • Richard Farnsworth was a well-respected character actor (and Oscar nominated) that started his career as a stuntman on movies like Gone With the Wind
      • His last film credit was in 1999 in The Straight Story which was a Walt Disney film
    • Tony Award-winning Colleen Dewhurst played Marilla for the rest of her career in Anne of Avonlea and Avonlea before passing away in 1991; Although Farnsworth’s character of Matthew died before Marilla, Dewhurst passed away before Farnsworth
  • Katherine Hepburn was approached to play Marilla, but when she declined, she recommended her great niece Schuyler Grant for the role of Anne. Grant auditioned for the role, and they cast her as Diana, Anne’s best friend.
  • Jonathan Crombie also plays Gilbert Blythe, Anne’s love interest
    • He was cast in the role after a director discovered him in a school play
    • He was the voice of animated character Benjamin Bear
    • He passed away at the age of 48
  • Patricia Hamilton who plays Rachel Lynde is still alive
    • She played Rachel in the animated series and in a 2008 TV movie
• Favorite quotes
  • I never wanted a boy. I only wanted you from the first day. Don’t ever change. I love my little girl. I’m so proud of my little girl.
  • That’s the one good thing about me. I never do the same wrong thing twice.
  • “It ain’t interfering to have an opinion”
  • And as for Christian virtue: making a little wine for a refreshment is far less sinful than meddling in other people’s affairs!
• Thoughts on the story
  • “Young women are so often taught to make boys feel comfortable even when they’re being total assholes. And Anne just…doesn’t do that”
  • Anne is a great role model for young girls. She teaches to never sacrifice intelligence, and brings out the best in everyone by simply being herself.

Sources:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088727/

https://www.anneofgreengables.com/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/anne-of-green-gables-comes-to-life-in-canada/2018/08/27/9d2eff42-a0a3-11e8-8e87-c869fe70a721_story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/tv/1986/02/16/colleen-dewhurst-anne-of-green-gables/a9b99b0d-eb80-41ea-b1e1-c835fcbab0de/

The Case of Cinematography

This week we released our longest episode to date! It’s about the art of cinematography. Here are our show notes as well as some clips to help guide you through the episode!

Cinematography

• What is it?
  • Simply put,  it is the art or science of making motion pictures.
  • Comes from the Greek words ‘kinema’ (meaning movement) and ‘graphein’ (to record)
  • Cinematography emphasizes what is going on in each scene to produce a certain emotion out of the viewer.
    • Walter Murch in his book In the Blink of an Eye says “What they finally remember is not the editing, not the camerawork, not the performance, not even the story–it’s how they felt.”  So essentially if the cinematographer made you feel the way they wanted you to, they have done their job.
• Who uses it?
  • Cinematographers
    • Are Cinematographers and Directors of Photography the same thing?
      • Yes they are synonymous
    • When did they come about?  Have they been around since the beginning of cinema?
      • Muybridge
        • In 1878 he used 24 stereoscopic cameras with trip wires that the horse ran through to activate the shutters
    • • WKL Dickson
        • Assistant to Thomas Edison
        • Created the Kinetograph and Kinetoscope
      • Charles Francis Jenkins- He invented the The Phantoscope (essentially a projector) He was the first to get viewers but did not profit from the viewers
      • 1895 The Lumier Brothers “The Arrival of the Train”
        • First people to present a “movie” to a paying audience
        • When it first aired in France it reportedly scared the viewers
  • Difference between Cinematographer and Director
    • The Director of the film has the final say about all decisions regarding the film and how it will look. Directors are often the ones controlling the actors.
    • The Cinematographer however controls the camera and gives input on the best way to shoot the scenes using lighting, angles, etc. Essentially the techniques that convey the emotion.
    • A director can also be a cinematographer (ex. Alfonso Cuarón Orozco)
• Specific things that must be paid attention to
  • Lighting
    • Color of light
      • Warmer- Candle, Tungsten
      • Cooler- Fluorescent, Daylight, Moonlight
    • Lighting Techniques
      • Chiaroscuro or Rembrandt Lighting
        • Result of side lighting and characterized by an upside-down triangle on a person’s cheek
      • Key Lighting
        • This is the main light for your shoot, and it can be anywhere in regards to your subject. Placing it right next to the camera will create flat lighting that lacks contrast and isn’t very dynamic
      • Fill Lighting
        • Placed in the opposite direction as the key light, this fills in the dark shadows created by the light
        • Usually it is placed farther away or covered by a diffuser to make the light as soft as possible
        • This with the key light adds depth to the scene
      • Back Lighting
        • This light sits above and behind the subject and sets them apart from the background
        • This is also diffused lighting for a softer effect
      • Side Lighting
        • This is a light set up parallel to your subject, sometimes alone or with a faint fill light
        • Chiaroscuro is an Italian word meaning light and dark
          • In order to achieve it, have a strong side light with weak or no fill light to create the dramatic contrast that accentuates the contours of your subject
          • Rembrandt Lighting is essentially the same technique characterized with an upside-down triangle on the fill light side of the face
          • 
      • Practical Light
        • This is the use of regular, working light sources like lamps and candles
        • This is usually added by the set designer, and adjustments are usually made to them to light the subject better or in such a way
      • Hard Lighting
        • Though this is usually unwanted or something to avoid, there are benefits to using hard light
        • It creates harsh shadows, can draw attention to your subject, and creates strong silhouette
        • Usually sunlight or just a strong light source
      • Soft Lighting
        • Doesn’t refer to any lighting direction, but still sets the tone for a scene
        • It eliminates harsh shadows
      • Bounce Lighting
        • Bouncing light from a strong source using a reflector or light surface like a wall or ceiling
      • High Key
        • This is a bright scene that’s visually shadowless or overexposed
        • All light sources have the same intensity
        • It is incredibly popular today, and is often used to convey an upbeat mood; Back in the 30s, it was used when film was not able to pick up on high light contrast ratios
      • Low Key
        • Lots of shadows and sometimes just one strong key light source
        • The focus is on the shadows and how they create mystery or suspense
      • Motivated Lighting
        • This is meant to imitate a natural light source like sunlight
      • Ambient Light
  • Steady camera vs shaky (stabilizer vs. handheld)
  • Color (ex. What the characters are wearing and the background they are against)
    • In Schindler’s List the girl with the red coat
    • In Fiddler on the Roof in order to bring a brown hue to the film Oswald Morris used brown pantyhose over the lens which also in some scenes gives it a strange faint grid
  • Composing the Camera Frame and movement: high angles (power), low angles (weakness), crooked angles (unsettling), depth of field, wide lenses, close-ups
• Are there any formal rules typically followed?
  • Cinema=Language
    • Language has rules and uses letters, words, sentence structures and paragraphs to convey meaning.  Cinema is similar because it has structures of its own such as: lighting, shots, and shot sequences.
    • Creative Devices
      • Dominant foreground, contributing background (the rooftops)
      • Detail shots; the camera is not afraid to get uncomfortably close to objects
      • Silhouette
      • Rule of Thirds
      • Slow pan (not really a device but important to include)
        • Pan is the sweeping motion of the camera across a scene
      • Wide, medium, tight shots with details
• Is the equipment or cinematographer more important?
  • While both are important the equipment must match what the story is seeking to tell.
    • You may have the best equipment but that does not mean that it will fit the story.
  • Common Types of Lenses
    • Fish-eye
      • Used for panoramic, city shots, landscapes, abstract
    • Wide-angle
      • Interiors, landscapes, architecture
    • Standard
      • Portraits and documentary
    • Zoom
      • Tight shots, wildlife documentaries
    • Macro
      • Super close up, small objects
    • Telephoto
      • Far away, sports
    • Tilt-shift
      • “Tilt–shift” encompasses two different types of movements: rotation of the lens plane relative to the image plane, called tilt, and movement of the lens parallel to the image plane, called shift.
      • Tilt is used to control the orientation of the plane of focus (PoF), and hence the part of an image that appears sharp; it makes use of the Scheimpflug principle. Shift is used to adjust the position of the subject in the image area without moving the camera back; this is often helpful in avoiding the convergence of parallel lines, as when photographing tall buildings.
• Why should the Director or Cinematographer not be the editor of the film?
  • Since they were on set during filming it is hard to separate what happened during filming.  If there was extra emotion on set one day and everyone was unhappy, when editing it they may only see the upset from that day.  In order to remove that frustration from viewing the scene an editor is necessary. An editor only sees what they have been given and will view it as an audience member would.
• Examples of great Cinematographers
  • John Alcott- Worked with Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, and The Shining
  • John L. Russell for Psycho
  • Birdman
    • Emmanuel Lubezki
  • Lord of the Rings
    • Andrew Lesnie
• What kind of awards are there out there?
  • Oscars: The Academy Award for Best Cinematography
  • ASC Awards (American Society of Cinematographers)
• The American Society of Cinematographers
  • Founded in Hollywood in 1919 (100th Anniversary!)
  • Originally consisted of 15 members: Joe August, L.D. Clawson, Arthur Edeson, William C. Foster, Eugene Gaudio, Fred Le Roy Granville, Walter L. Griffin, J.D. Jennings, Roy H. Klaffki, Victor Milner, Robert S. Newhard, Philip E. Rosen, Charles G. Rosher, Homer A. Scott and L. Guy Wilky
  • The declared purpose: “ to advance the art of cinematography through artistry and technological progress, and to cement a closer relationship among cinematographers to exchange ideas, discuss techniques and promote cinema as an art form.”
  • In essence they are about education and furthering cinematography as an art form
  • To be a member it is by invitation only.  The credentials you must have is to have demonstrated outstanding ability in the field and have as the website says “good personal character.”
  • In the last 20 years, only three films awarded an Oscar for Best Picture have also received the ASC award for cinematography or the cinematography Oscar: Birdman, Slumdog Millionaire, and American Beauty.

 

Twitter Suggestions

• Always the Critic Podcast
  • Raiders of the Lost Ark
    • Douglas Slocombe
• Bang Average Movie Podcast
  • Moulin Rouge
    • Donald McAlpine
  • Citizen Kane (A film noir)
    • Greg Toland (The ASC recently acquired the Mitchell BNC used to film this movie)
• Another Damn Movie Podcast
  • Phantom Thread
    • Paul Thomas Anderson
  • There Will Be Blood
    • Robert Elswit
• Toys Were Us Podcast
  • Casablanca
    • Arthur Edeson (one of the first members of ASC)
• Jeffrey Norris
  • Midsommar- Especially the may queen shots with her wearing the flower dress
    • Pawel Pogorzelski
• Undercover Coven
  • Mad Max
    • John Seale
• Heine
  • Life Aquatic
    • Robert Yeoman: He also worked on The Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom

Drink of the week: Shot of Cinnamon-tography!

Useful sites:

https://www.format.com/magazine/news/photography/what-is-cinematography

 

https://learn.org/articles/Cinematography_Career_and_Training_FAQs.html

 

https://theasc.com/awards/33rd-annual-asc-awards-february-9-2019

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXAr2yiYCV4

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3NRvrmKeMA

 

https://entertainism.com/history-of-cinematography

Salute Your Case

Hey Cassettes! Here are the show notes that we wrote while researching our episode on Salute Your Shorts.

If you’re unfamiliar, Salute Your Shorts was a live-action Nickelodeon show in the early 1990s. It followed a group of young kids and their shenanigans at summer camp.

A brief history 

• Salute Your Shorts was a Nickelodeon TV show that aired from 1991-1992
  • It was based on a book called “Salute Your Shorts: Life at Summer Camp,” written by Steve Slavkin and Thomas Hill
    • Slavkin went on to write the show as well, after he pitched the idea to Nickelodeon; They were looking for kid-centric show ideas for the network
    • The book and the show don’t have a lot of overlap; essentially the only similarity is the title and the theme of going to summer camp
  • Here’s a quote from The A/V Club “it was a show built on characters, ostensible stereotypes that, through clever writing and earnest performances, were able to (mostly) transcend their quirks to offer an identifiable portrait of adolescence”
  • According to The Los Angeles Times, it originally aired on July 4th, 1991
  • The show lasted for two seasons, each with 13 episodes, and its final air date was June 30th, 1992
  • After Nickelodeon green-lit a pilot episode, they sat on the pilot for over a year. By the time the show was picked up, the kids were too old to play the parts and had to be re-cast. All of the actors had to re-audition with a couple of them getting cast in the regular show
  • The theme song
    • The theme song was written by Ed Alton who also composed theme songs for Head of the Class, The Single Guy, Suddenly Susan, Nikki, My Boys, and Whitney
    • It’s the only theme song in history with the word “fart”
      • Robin’s brother got in trouble in school for singing it
    • A lot of the acting in the theme song was improved by the kids
  • The show was cancelled mostly for logistical reasons, the studio wanted to relocate the kids after two seasons and most of them were already settled in Los Angeles where the show was being filmed on location
  • Actors & Guest Stars
    • When Slavkin was tasked with casting the show, he wanted kids that seemed as natural as possible. There wasn’t much hair or make-up on the set, and when one of the actresses had to get braces, Slavkin wrote it into the show
      • A lot of the kids had no previous acting experience
    • The show starred:
      • Kirk Bailey as camp counselor “Ug” Lee
        • Kevin “Ug” Lee is the main counselor and the only recurring adult on the show. In the first episode, Donkleylips starts the chante “UG-LEE” with the other campers which is where his nickname comes from
        • Kirk Bailey has done a lot of voice work since the show, such as additional voices for Bumblebee, Frozen, and Big Hero 6
      • Danny Cooksey as Bobby Budnick
        • Budnick starts out as the camp bully, picking on the new kid in the first episodes of the show, though he matures a little more over time
        • Danny Cooksey was in other Nickelodeon titles throughout the 90s. He did an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark, but his crowning achievement as an actor was when he played “Stoop Kid” in Hey Arnold
      • Michael Bower as Eddie “Donkeylips” Gelfin
        • Donkeylips is best friends with Budnick, but he’s more like his lackey; He’s known as being one of the bullies, and for being a smelly camper
        • Michael Bower was one of the original actors in the first version of the pilot episode, and had to re-audition for the role
        • Before Salute Your Shorts, he had roles in The Wonder Years and Doogie Houser
      • Venus DeMilo as Telly Radford
        • Telly is the “tomboy” of the girls’ bunk. She’s less shallow than Dina, often clashing with her about the importance of fashion and good looks
        • Venus DeMilo went on to have roles in Family Matters, Sister Sister, Smart Guy, and The Bold and the Beautiful
      • Megan Berwick as Z Z Ziff
        • Z Z is the resident sweet girl, always kind to the other campers despite what they do to her
        • Berwick didn’t do much acting after the show, though she was in a TV movie called, “The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom”
      • Tim (or Trevor) Eyster as Eugene “Sponge” Harris
        • Sponge was the camper known for absorbing information (you know, like a sponge)
          • He’s bullied by the Budnick and Donkeylips, though he becomes friends with them as the series progresses
        • Tim Eyster changed his name to Trevor and has acted before and after the show; his last credit was a short in 2015
      • Heidi Lucas as Dina Alexander
        • Dina is the “girly” girl in the camp, preferring to do nails than play sports; she’s also known for being rich
        • Heidi Lucas has acted in a few things since the show, though her last IMDB credit is from 1996. She was on a science fiction show called Hypernauts
      • Erik MacArthur as Michael Stein
        • Michael is a character that only appears in the first season of the show. He is the main focus of many of the episodes in the first season like “Michael Comes to Camp,” “Brownies for Thud Mackie”
        • Michael Stein’s last acting credit was in 2007; he’s done bit parts since the show
      • Blake Soper as Ronnie Foster Pinsky
        • At the beginning of season 2, Michael has contracted chicken pox and will not be returning to camp. In his place, a scheming ans street-smart character named Pinsky is intro
        • He also was Joey the Rat on Boy Meets World
      • Steve Slavkin as Dr. Kahn
        • The creator of the show lent his voice to play the unseen Dr. Kahn, to fill up space on the show. Slavkin says he made up most of his lines on the spot and was just meant to fill space between shots
      • Christine Kavanaugh
        • The late actress that voiced Chuckie and Oblina played Ug’s girlfriend Mona
• Favorite Episodes
  • The Ghost Story
    • Zeke the Plumber is arguably the most famous episode of the show
  • The Radio Call-in Contest
    • In this episode, Sponge gets help from other campers so he can answer the 1000$ question on a radio call-in contest
  • Mail Carrier Mona
    • When Ug’s girlfriend dumps him, the kids in camp set him up with Mona the mail carrier
  • Park Ranger Mona
    • Mona returns in this episode and is now a park ranger. Ug has to improve the camp to make sure they pass inspection
  • Budnick Loves Dina
    • In this two-part episode, Budnick falls for Dina and they begin to date

Fun Facts

• • No one really knows for sure what an awful waffle is–they never actually do it in the show. It involves maple syrup and a tennis racket, but that’s all we know!
  • They’re making a documentary about Salute Your Shorts, it’s in pre-production! We’ll be sure to let everyone know about it once it comes out!
  • The way the show was shot was groundbreaking
    • In “Slimed, an oral history of Nickelodeon’s Golden Age,” producer Courtney Conte was quoted in saying that Slavkin had directors push the show in terms of directorial style. It was a one-camera show that was shot on location, versus many other kids shows of the time which were shot on sound stages with laugh tracks
    • It was also groundbreaking that the show was scored; generally the music in the show was classical and was added to scenes to increase suspense or excitement
      • The guitar rifs in some episodes were performed by Danny Cooksey’s band
    • The Show was shot at Franklin Canyon Park, and Franklin lake which is the same place that some scenes of the Andy Griffith show was shot!
      • AND, it was shot at a real camp
  • Danny Cooksey had Michael Bower and Kirk Bailey as groomsmen in their wedding
  • Donkeylips was originally the bully for the show, but after the year between the pilot and the show started filming, Danny Cooksey had gone through a growth spurt and was changed to be the camp bully
  • Even though the show stopped airing new episodes in 1992, it continued to be one of the most popular on the network. It was among the top 15 highest-rated, regularly scheduled basic-cable series in 1996 (four years after it ended)

The Case of Movie Myths (BONUS EPISODE)

Hey everyone! We know we said we were taking a break, but we still wanted to give you guys a little bit of content for the week. So, this is a bonus episode we recorded while we were down one host.

We promised we would link to a few videos, so here are those links for the particular myths/legends that they correspond to.

The Wizard of Oz “suicide”  – The story goes that an actor or crew member hung themselves on the set and it can be seen during this scene. This myth has been debunked in several ways. First, the actors would certainly have seen the hanging body as they gleefully danced toward it. Second, in this version you can very clearly see that it has the shape and movement of a bird.

SFX Lion King – SFX stands for Special Effects, and the animators thought it would be fun to slip a reference to it in this scene. Little did they know, people would see E instead of F, and this became one of the biggest Disney Urban Legends. Snopes even refers to it as legend, instead of saying that the myth is false.

The Little Mermaid Castle – Another Disney myth, this is the legend of the hidden penis in The Little Mermaid promotional art. Now, there is no denying that the middle spire certainly looks like a part of the male anatomy. However, the story that it was intentionally drawn by a disgruntled former employee is completely false. The man that drew it was given short notice and was not even an employee of Disney.

Another part of the myth is that the cover art was heavily recalled, which also isn’t exactly true. It was taken from shelves for about 24 hours and then returned. Disney didn’t print more of the image onto VHS tapes, but they didn’t pull the ones that already existed.

The Rescuers Naked Lady – Sorry, you will have to google this one on your own. We cannot show nudity (no matter how small or poor quality) as it might violate our terms with Patreon. We can tell you though, that this myth is true.

Indiana Jones Swordsman – When Harrison Ford got sick with dysentery, he found the idea of filming a three-page fight scene very inconvenient. So, he and Stephen Spielberg decided that shooting the swordsman instead would work. The myth is that this was improvised, but it was not.

Three Men and a Baby Ghost – Here is a link to a snopes article and video that clears up the legend of the ghost in Three Men and a Baby. According to legend, the camera picked up the eerie image of a boy who had died in the home that they were filming in. Well, the movie was filmed on a sound stage and the image is a cardboard cut-out.

For more urban legends, listen to the episode!